Mike Freiberg and Joanie Clausen Elected to Golden Valley City Council

For , Tuesday night's victory was especially sweet. She ran unsuccessfully for the City Council in 2001, 2005 and 2009, and ran for mayor in 2007.

"I almost didn't run this time," she said Tuesday night, while celebrating at Restaurant. "But ten minutes before the deadline, I went ahead and filed. And then I knocked on doors. I think I know every door bell and door knob in the city. I haven't worked this hard in any of the other elections, and this just feels awesome."

While incumbent took nearly 40 percent of the vote, Clausen beat out former Mayor Blair Tremere by nearly 10 percentage points.

City Council Race (according to MN Secretary of State):

• Mike Freiberg—39.33 percent
• Joanie Clausen—29.29 percent
• Blair Tremere—20.80 percent
• Greg Keivit—10.04 percent
• Write-In—0.55 percent

"People really responded to my message, which was that I love this city, but we need a change," Clausen said. "We need to work together more, and we need to have a more positive attitude. The city has done a lot of good things, but I think we can do more. We can look at cutting spending further. We can do an even better job communicating with people."

Although Mike Freiberg was re-elected by a comfortable margin, he said he didn't necessarily feel like a shoe-in.

"I had so much positive input going door-to-door, but that's anecdotal. And nobody polls these races," he said. "Joanie (Clausen) definitely worked the hardest, and I think that's what made the difference."

Freiberg said he felt his responsiveness over these last few years to emails, phone calls and letters has given him trust with many residents. He even gave out his phone number to the large crowd at the

"Having an approachable, responsive council is important," he said Tuesday night. "I think the city has been pretty responsive and has done a good job, and I think with Shep (Harris) and Joanie (Clausen), we'll continue to do a good job.  It'll be interesting going forward. There will be different personalities, but I'm optimistic."